The Turtle and The Lightning Bolt
by vjndef
Summary: AU where another set of twins accompany Dipper and Mabel to Gravity Falls. Written from POV of one of the OCs. If you have constructive criticism, or have something meaningful to say about the story, please review the story with your comments.


Hello there! Vjndef here! This is my very first fanfiction here, and I hope you enjoy it! This story is about a idea I got once: what if there was another pair of twins, going to Gravity Falls with Dipper and Mabel. I based the two characters, twins Steven and Caroline "Carrie" Amesbury on myself, using the different aspects of my personality in theirs.

I intend on this to being a multi-chapter story, with each chapter being an episode. Also, remember to review the story, and give feedback, so I can improve in the future.

Without further ado, let's begin

*updated due to edits

If you've ever ridden a roller coaster, you know that at first, you are excited for what's to come as you ride up the lift hill. Next, come the parts that take you up and down, or even upside down, causing you much terror. But, at the end, you don't want to get off because you want to ride the coaster again.

That's what my summer was like.

My name is Steven Amesbury, and you got a heck of a roller coaster to ride here.

A bird flew down a tree lined street. He landed on the gutter of the porch roof of a house with blue siding. Under this porch sat a tall 12 year old boy with a head of messy light brown hair, and blazing green eyes,. This boy wore a green turtle sweatshirt, which he was wearing while drawing a map in a graph paper notebook.

That's me.

A girl with a ponytail of light brown hair and blue square framed glasses, walked onto the porch.

That's my sister, Carrie.

"Hey brother! You hear the news?" She asked me.

What news? Did she blow up half of her room again?

"No, what are you talking about?" I responded.

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Carrie replied, "We're going to Gravity Falls, Oregon for the summer with Dipper and Mabel."

Dipper and Mabel are Carrie and I's friends. Mason Pines, or Dipper as he prefers, is one of my closest friends. He's into mystery, and things that are out of the ordinary. I swear he's going be a forensic analyst when he's older.. Dipper can get a little selfish when he is in pursuit of a goal, and he can get a little paranoid sometimes (but not as much as me!). Regardless, Dipper is a great guy.

His twin sister, Mabel, is like a giant ray of sunlight. She _has_ to be one of, if not the most optimistic, silly, and friendliest people I've ever met. I mean, she has a pet _pig_ (that's another story for another time), and knits her own sweaters, even knitting my own turtle sweatshirt. She's an all around great person, and you're bound to be friends with her if you ever meet her. Mabel did become penpals with the pizza man in the thirty seconds he was at the door one time.

Just as my sister was speaking to me, Dipper and Mabel came walking down the sidewalk.

"Speak of the devil." I announced as Dipper and Mabel walked onto the porch.

"Heyo! Whatcha guys talking about here?" Mabel asked.

"I was drawing maps out here," I explained, "Then Carrie came out here and told me we're all going to somewhere in Oregon for the summer."

"You mean Gravity Falls?" Mabel inquired..

"Yes, yes, that's the place. Why are we going there anyway?"

Good God, I have such an awful memory.

"Mabel and I have a great uncle who lives in a cabin in Oregon. We're visiting him for the summer." Dipper clarified for me.

We then chatted on the porch for a couple hours, then we all went home to start packing. The day after the next we all went on the bus to Gravity Falls.

The bus ride up was fine, we had a few games of hearts going, and somehow Mabel kept winning. There was also this businessman sitting near the front of the bus, and we all decided to throw crumpled-up balls of paper at him, and hid behind the chairs when the man looked to see who threw the ball.

The bus then arrived at the bus stop, where we all got off the bus.

There was definitely a guy who looked like he could be a great uncle, and he appeared to live in a cabin.

What was surprising was that this guy converted half of his cabin into some kind of tourist trap called the "Mystery Shack." I think this guy, his name is Mr. Pines by the way, probably meant that name to describe the mystery in the shack, but I believe that the real mystery is why anyone would waste their money on looking at things like a grizzly bear with a fake unicorn corn on its head.

Mr. Pines showed the four of us to the room in which Dipper, Mabel, Carrie, and I would be staying in, which was in the attic. There was two bunk beds, Carrie and I took the left side (I had the bottom bunk because I'm scared I'll fall off the top. I know, I'm a coward). Dipper and Mabel took the other bunk bed.

Mabel got to work posting all ten billion of her boy band posters, and marveling about how many splinters she had on her fingers.

Dipper found a goat on his bed, which then started to chew Mabel's sleeve, which, unsurprisingly, she accepted.

I rose up to the task of setting up a musical corner for all of our musical instruments. For the fifth grade talent show, Dipper, Mabel, Carrie, me, and a kid named Jerome all played in a band. Ever since, we've been playing at school functions. I play guitar, and so does Mabel, only because she wouldn't stop bugging me about teaching her one day. She turned out to be really good at it, too. Dipper plays bass, since he was the only one to volunteer for the position. Carrie plays the drums and loves it, mostly because the drums are the only thing she can hit and make loud noises without getting chastised. Jerome played the keyboards, but he's all the way in Piedmont, so we have to find someone who can play keyboards.

All in all, his summer was shaping up to be just like any other summer, just with more trees.

That was, until one day.

We were all in the gift shop, Dipper and I were doing some work, and Mabel and Carrie were getting into some kind of girl shenanigans.

"He's looking at it! He's looking at it!" I heard Mabel squeal.

"Looking at what?" There's a reason why I call Carrie "Miss Inattention".

Some boy was looking at a note Mabel wrote.

"Do you like me?" the boy read out loud with a confused manner, "Yes? Definitely? Absolutely?"

"I rigged it!" Mabel and Carrie began to snicker.

I will never understand girls.

"Mabel, do you have to flirt with every guy you meet?" I called out without looking up from my work.

"Exactly!" Dipper added.

"Mock all you want, but I have a good feeling about this summer. I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now." Mabel replied.

Mr. Pines walked into the room and burped, but the burp became stuck in his throat.

"Oh! Oh, not good. Ow." Mr. Pines groaned.

Ah, irony.

After we all stopped laughing, except for Mabel, she was groaning, Mr. Pines had something to say.

"All right, all right," Mr. Pines announced, "Look alive people. I need somebody to hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest."

"Not it!" Chanted us all in unison.

"Also not it." Soos declared.

I forgot to mention Soos. He's this big heavy guy who is the handyman who works for Mr. Pines. He's sorta, he's kinda like, he's, oh forget it. Soos is his own category. That's the only way to describe him.

"Nobody asked you, Soos." Mr. Pines grumbled.

"I know, and I'm comfortable with that." Admitted Soos, eating a chocolate bar.

Mr. Pines turned to Wendy and commanded, "Wendy, I need you to put up this sign."

Wendy is local high school girl, and cashier for the summer in the Mystery Shack. She's a pretty laid back girl, and very calm, cool, and collected. Although I personally don't find redheads to be my type, Dipper is another story. Let me just say this: I have never seen anyone have a crush on someone else this intense that fast.

"Ugh, I would, but I, ugh, can't, ugh, reach it, ugh…" Wendy groaned.

"Well, in that case, doesn't Dipper look like he could put up those signs?" I suggested.

What are friends for if you can't pawn off chores you don't want to them?

"Sure, sounds reasonable. Why don't you and Dipper put the signs up together?" Mr. Pines proposed.

Dipper and I gasped.

"W-what?! That's not what I meant, Mr. Pines!" I blurted.

"Grunkle Stan, I don't want to do that. The woods seem like they're watching me. Something weird is happening in this town, I know it!" Dipper said as he tried to make a case for himself.

"Kid, the whole "monsters in the forest" thing is just local legend, drummed up by guys like me to sell merch to guys like that."

He pointed to a fat tourist playing with a nick nack, giggling stupidly.

"So quit being so paranoid!"

Mr. Pines's tone sounded final, and with a huff, Dipper and I walked out to put up the signs.

"Ugh, Grunkle Stan. Nobody ever believes anything I say." Dipper grumbled.

I said nothing, I didn't want to make the situation worse by making Dipper even more angry

When we got to the area we were putting up signs, Dipper divvied out half of the signs to himself, then the rest to me, and we got to work. I hung a sign on a tree branch, while Dipper pounded a nail into another tree.

A metallic sound rang out when Dipper tried to drive his nail in. Dipper stopped, which I took notice to.

"Hey, Dipper, is everything alright?" I asked.

"This tree here makes a weird metallic sound when I drive the nail in." Dipper responded.

"Lemme see." I walked over to the tree Dipper was at.

I tilted my head, and I brushed the side of the tree, revealing a secret window.

"Ergh." I grunted as he struggled to open the window.

Stupid short fingernails.

"Can help you there, Steven?" Dipper asked, and Dipper opened the window to reveal a secret compartment.

"Maybe we need to flick one of these switches." I suggested

Dipper flipped the first switch to no avail, but the second switch Dipper flipped opened a hole in the ground, which contained a book.

"What the?" Dipper sputtered.

"Is that a book?" I questioned.

A dusty red book with bugs on it was sitting in the ground. The book had a golden six-fingered hand with a three on top.

Dipper dusted off the book, opened the book, and began to read.

"It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon." Dipper flipped to another page, "Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before he finds it. Remember: in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust."

"Does this mean that there are mons-" I started.

"HALLO!" Mabel suddenly introduced.

"AHH!" Dipper and I screamed.

After having a mini-panic attack, Mabel asked us a question.

"Whatcha reading you guys? Some nerd thing?" Mabel asked.

"Uh-uh, it's nothing!" Dipper nervously stated.

"Yeah, it's nothing!" I added.

"It's nothing," Mabel imitated, then laughed, "What? Are you guys actually not going to show me?"

"Uh, Mabel, let's go somewhere quiet." Dipper declared. We all walked inside.

A short time later, Dipper, Mabel, Carrie, and I were sitting in a circle in the living room of the Mystery Shack.

"It's amazing! Grunkle Stan said I was being paranoid, but according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side." Dipper showed Mabel a page.

"Whoa. Shut. Up!" Mabel exclaimed, pushing Dipper playfully.

"Can I see a page?" Carrie asked, and Carrie read the page from the book in Dipper's hands.

"That is way cool." Stated Carrie.

"Yeah, this book even describes all kinds of monsters!" Exclaimed Dipper.

"And get this," I added, "after a certain point, the pages just like, stop. It's almost like-AHH! WHO'S THERE?!"

I was startled by the sudden sound of a doorbell.

A doorbell. I know, pathetic.

"Don't freak out Steven. It's just my date at the door." Mabel explained.

"Hold it, what?" I asked incredulously.

How in God's name did she get a date _this fast_?

"Let me get this straight:," Dipper asked, "In the half-hour Steven and I were gone, you found yourself a boyfriend?"

"What can I say? I guess I'm just IRRESISTIBLE!" Mabel exclaimed.

The door ringed again, and Mabel rushed to the door.

After Mabel was gone, Dipper went to sit in a chair to read the Journal, and Carrie whispered to me,

"Look, I saw the whole thing go down at the cemetery, and let me tell you, I've never seen anyone fall for anyone else in five seconds."

"Did you say a cemetery?"

Mr. Pines walked into the room.

"Whatcha reading there, slick?" Mr. Pines asked his nephew.

"Oh, uhh…" Dipper stuttered. Dipper thought fast, and threw the journal under the chair, and grabbed a magazine.

"Gold Chains for Old Men Magazine?" Dipper read with a confused tone.

"That's a good issue."

Carrie remarked, "Smooth.", which was met with a sharp jab in the chest from Dipper.

"Hey family and friends! Say hello to my new boyfriend!" Mabel introduced.

"Sup?" The boyfriend said.

"Hey…" Dipper trailed off.

"How's it hanging?" Mr. Pines asked.

I nodded. I don't do verbal introductions.

"We met at the cemetery. He's really deep." Mabel explained.

Mabel felt her boyfriends arm, and continued, "Oh. A little muscle. That's… what a surprise.."

"So, what's your name?" Dipper questioned.

"Uh, Normal… MAN."

"He means Norman." Mabel clarified.

How does this not surprise me that Mabel fell for this guy?

Dipper noticed some red splotch on Norman's face.

"Is that blood on your face?" Dipper asked.

"It's jam." Norman responded.

"I love jam!" Mabel exclaimed, "Look. At. This!"

"So, do you wanna go hold hands, or whatever?" Norman asked Mabel.

"Oh, oh, my goodness!" Mabel giggled, "Don't wait up!"

Dipper beckoned Carrie and I up to the attic.

"Something's up about Mabel's new boyfriend." Dipper started.

"I agree." I added, "I can usually tell a lot about someone by first impressions, and Norman looks pretty shady."

"The cemetery where Mabel met him was pretty spooky, even for graveyards. I would not normally believe that monsters exist, but now you have that journal as a primary source, I think that someone could make a hypothesis for something supernatural at work, maybe zombies, or something." Carrie reasoned.

"Wait, say that again." Dipper asked.

"The cemetery whe-" Carrie started.

"No, the end." Dipper reminded.

"Oh, sorry!" Carrie apologized, and stated, "Zombies or something."

"Wait just a second." Dipper told to Steven and Carrie, and Dipper flipped to the page in the journal for gnomes.

"Wait, wrong page."

We waited for Dipper to arrive at the proper page

"Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes these creatures are often mistaken for... teenagers?! Beware Gravity Falls's nefarious…" Dipper read.

" **ZOMBIES?!** " Wailed Dipper

"Ow, Dipper, canya keep it down? I'm sure people in Asia could hear that." I winced.

"Is my sister really dating a zombie, or am I just going nuts?" Questioned Dipper.

"It's a dilemma, to be sure." Dipper gasped, and I screamed from being startled.

"Soos? What are you doing up here?" Carrie asked.

"I couldn't help but overhear that conversation you dudes were having in this empty room." Soos explained.

"Oh, then Soos? Have you seen Mabel's boyfriend? He's got to be a zombie, right?" Dipper questioned.

"How many brains didja see the guy eat?" Asked Soos.

"Zero." Dipper, Carrie, and I stated in unison.

"Look, dudes," Soos explained, "I believe you. I'm always noticing weird stuff in this town. Like the mailman? Pretty sure that dude's a werewolf. But ya gotta have evidence. Otherwise, people are gonna think you guys are major league cuckoo clocks."

"Hey Soos, thanks." Dipper thanked.

"Yeah, you really hit the nail on the point." Chimed Carrie.

"My wisdom is both a blessing and a curse." Soos stated.

"SOOS! THE PORTABLE TOILETS ARE CLOGGED AGAIN." Grunkle Stan yelled from downstairs.

"I am needed elsewhere." Soos backed into the shadows.

Dipper looked at Carrie and I, and told us, "Let's go save Mabel."

For the rest of the day, we followed Mabel and Norman, and collected data.

Dipper confronted Mabel the next day.

I was in the living room, eating a snack size can of Pringles, and Carrie was watching a show on the TV, when Dipper walked solemnly into the room, camera in hand.

"Hey Dipper, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Look at this video here. Soos was right. I don't have any real evidence."

We watched the video and Mabel and Norman were playing hopscotch.

"I guess I can be kind of paranoid sometimes and-" Dipper remarked, and paused.

The video showed Norman's arm falling off.

I gasped, and Dipper exclaimed, "Wait, _WHAT?!_ "

This what got Carrie to run over and see what the hoohah was about.

"What's going on?" Carrie inquired.

Dipper rewinded the video to show Carrie, and to ensure he wasn't seeing things. With this, we all shared frenzied glances.

"We were right! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Dipper exclaimed as we ran outside.

"Get Grunkle Stan's attention Steven!" Dipper asked me.

"MR. PINES! MR. PINES! MR. PINES!" I yelled.

Mr. Pines was talking to a crowd of tourists.

"And here we have a Rock that looks like a face rock: the rock that looks like a face"

"Does it look like a rock?" Some tourist asked.

Mr. Pines responded, "No, it looks like a face."

A fat tourist asked, "Is it a face?"

"It's a rock that _looks_ like a face"

I jumped up and down while yelling, attempting to arouse Mr. Pine's attention.

"For the fifth time, it's-it's not a face!"

I groaned, and saw Wendy.

"WENDY! WENDY! WENDY! I need to borrow the golf cart so I can save Mabel from a zombie!" I exclaimed.

Wendy gave me a key and told me, "Try not to hit any pedestrians."

Reassuring.

I motioned for Dipper and Carrie to come over to the cart and to get in. They did, and just as everyone was ready to leave, Soos showed up.

"Dude, it's me: Soos. This is for the zombies" Soos gave me a shovel.

"Thanks." I thanked.

"And this is in case you see a pinata." Soos gave me a baseball bat while I shared bemused glances with Dipper and Carrie.

As we drove off, Soos called out, "Better safe than sorry!"

The golf cart raced through the dense forests.

"Don't worry Mabel! We'll save you from that zombie!" Dipper said to no one in particular.

"HELP!" Mabel yelled off from somewhere.

"Hold on!" Dipper yelled back.

We arrived where Mabel was in no time. However, I was not prepared for what I saw next.

I stood in shock.

"What the _heck_ is going on here?" Dipper wondered.

"Do I need my glasses checked?" Carrie asked.

A bunch of gnomes, _yes gnomes_ , were holding down Mabel.

"Guys! Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes! And they're total jerks!" 

A gnome pulled Mabel's hair.

"Hair! Hair! Hair!" Mabel screamed.

"Gnomes? Huh, I was _way_ off." Dipper flipped to the journal page for gnomes. "Gnomes: little men of the Gravity Falls Forest. Weakness: unknown."

As Dipper looked up from the journal, Mabel managed to get tied up by the gnomes.

"Whoa, whoa! What are you doing?" I asked indignantly.

"Hey, HEY! Let go of my sister!" Dipper exclaimed.

"Oh! Ha ha, hey, there!" A gnome stammered. "Um, you know, this is all really just a big misunderstanding. You see, your sister is not in dan-"

"LIAR!" Carrie yelled, and she stomped towards the gnome while Dipper and I were giving her a "Don't do that, that's a horrible idea" look.

"You think you can stop us, girl? You have no idea what we're capable of! The gnomes are a powerful race! Do not trifle with the-" Carrie grabbed the gnome and chucked the gnome.

"SCIENCE ATTACK!" Carrie yelled as the gnome soared into the forest.

Dipper took this as his chance to free Mabel with the shovel.. As soon as that happened, all four of us ran to the cart, and got in, with Dipper driving, Mabel in the passenger seat, and Carrie and I in the back.

As the gnome came to, he exclaimed, "They're getting away with our queen! No, no, no!"

"Seatbelt." Dipper said buckling his seatbelt, and once everyone was buckled, Dipper started to drive.

"You messed with the wrong creatures! Gnomes of the forest, ASSEMBLE!"

Whatever that meant.

"Hurry, before they come after us!" Mabel worried. She did have a point, though.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Dipper reassured, "See their little legs? Those suckers are tiny!"

A stomping sound began to rumble. Dipper stopped the cart.

"Hey, do any of you hear anyt- _DEAR JESUS FROM ABOVE! WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS THAT?!_ " I exclaimed.

A giant mass of gnomes had formed some kind of gnome monster. A gnome from the top, the same one Carrie chucked, commanded to his fellow gnomes, "All right, teamwork, guys. Just like we practiced."

"Move, _MOVE!_ " Mabel shrieked.

As the cart sped across the landscape, I began to have a panic attack for obvious reasons. As Carrie calmed me down, the monster almost smashed the cart.

The gnomes reassembled themselves in the arm, then the leader gnome demanded, "Come back with our queen!"

"It's getting closer!" I screamed at the same time as Mabel.

The gnome threw a mass of gnomes at the cart. Mabel punched a gnome, and Dipper slammed a gnome into the steering wheel.

A gnome landed on my face, clawing me, and while I was busy losing my crap, Carrie punched the gnome until it fell off.

"Thanks…" I sputtered.

"Don't mention it." Carrie said back.

Then, the monster threw a tree towards the cart.

"LOOK OUT!" Mabel screamed.

Then it was turn for all four of us to scream as the cart overturned and landed near the Mystery Shack.

We crawled out of the cart, and Dipper had a shovel in his hand to defend himself.

"Stay back, man!" Dipper threw the shovel with no avail.

Cue the screaming again.

"Uh, where's Grunkle Stan?" Dipper asked when we stopped screaming.

Since there was no response, the leader gnome took the opportunity to speak.

"It's the end of the line, kids! Mabel, marry us before we do something crazy!"

"There's gotta be away out of this!" Dipper pled.

"I gotta do it." Mabel declared.

"What?! Mabel, don't do this! Are you crazy?"

"Trust me."

"What?"

"Dipper, just this once. Trust me!"

Dipper glanced at the gnomes, then at Mabel, and then he backed away, along with Carrie and I.

"All right, Jeff. I'll marry you." Mabel announced.

Jeff stepped down from the pile of gnomes he was on.

"Hot dog! Help me down there, Jason! Thanks, Andy! All right, left foot, there we go, watch those fingers, Mike."

Jeff then produced a ring, and offered it to Mabel

"Eh? Eh?"

Mabel held out her hand, and let the ring slide on her finger.

"Bada-bing, bada-bam! Now let's get you back into the forest, honey!" Jeff declared.

"You may now kiss the bride!" Mabel announced.

"Well, don't mind if I do." Jeff informed.

As I covered my face, as I knew if I ever saw a gnome kiss a human, I'd have to gouge my eyes out. I expected the worst.

Turns out, the best happened, the best being Mabel pulling out a leaf blower from God knows where.

"Ah! Hey, wait a minute! Whoa, woah! Wh-what's going on!?" Jeff panicked as he was sucked into the leaf blower.

"That's for lying to me!" Mabel raged.

The blowing power increased. "THAT'S for breaking my heart!"

"Ow! My face!" Jeff winced.

"And THIS is for messing with my friends." Mabel turned to Dipper, Carrie and I.

"Wanna do the honors, guys?"

"We'd love too." Carrie affirmed.

"On three!"

All four of us grabbed the handle.

"One, two, three!" We chanted together.

Jeff blasted into the gnome monster. It was simply beautiful how he collided.

"I'll get you back for this!..." Jeff threatened as he hit the monster.

The gnome monster exploded into the individual gnomes it was made of.

"Who's giving orders? I need orders!" I heard a gnome ask.

"My arms are tired." Another gnome said.

Welcome to my world.

"Anyone else want some?" Dipper sneered.

Terrified, the gnomes ran into the forest. I even saw a gnome become stuck in a six-pack holder, then get carried away by the six-pack holder by a goat.

After that, Mabel turned to Dipper and apologized.

"Hey, Dipper? I, um...I'm sorry for ignoring your advice. You really were just looking out for me."

"Oh, don't be like that. You saved our butts back there."

"I guess I'm just sad that my first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes."

"Look on the bright side. Maybe the next one _will_ be a vampire!"

"Oh, you're just saying that!"

"Awkward sibling hug?"

"Awkward sibling hug."

Dipper and Mabel hugged, and did the signature pat pat.

During this exchange, Carrie and I were having our own conversation.

"Well, I'll never read a fairy tail the same again." I admitted.

"Same, brother. How's we go inside and forget that gnomes exist for awhile?" Carrie suggested.

"You know me too well!"

The four of us walked into the Mystery Shack. Mr. Pines took notice to our dirty and disheveled appearances, and responded accordingly.

"Yeesh. You four got hit by a bus? Ahah!" Mr. Pine laughed.

As we turned around to go outside, Mr. Pines quickly realized that was not the right thing to say, he decided to let us pick one item from the gift shop for free.

I began to peruse the shelves, and something caught my eye: a map. Yeah, I know, pretty nerdy, but this map was a Penman's 1983 RoadFinder Road Map of the Pacific Coast in near perfect condition! I just had to have it!

I ran upstairs and began looking at the map like a enthralled child. I found out what the others found later, when they shuffled upstairs.

Dipper had a snazzy blue baseball cap. It had a blue pine tree on a white background. Mabel had a grappling hook, which did not surprise me to any extent, and Carrie got herself some earrings in the shape of yellow lightning bolts.

This day certainly set the mood for the rest of the summer. I knew some pretty crazy stuff was in this town, but the craziest was yet to come.

But, of course, I'm getting ahead of myself. A bonding day, along with a massive monster was next to come.


End file.
